“…These too reflect their uptake of the business model with its focus on managing resource constraints and pursuing bottom line profitability. Government pressure to raise student intakes and mass produce employment ready graduates for a global knowledge worker marketplace reinforces the market revenue generating pressures for educational massification (Alexander, ; Dobson, ; Smeby, ; Altbach, ; Rytmeister, ; Rossi, ; and Arambewela, ). Operational efficiency has become a major strategic focus with a hidden agenda of cost minimisation for maximum outputs and profit margin optimisation.…”
Section: In Search Of Operational Efficiencymentioning
This paper examines the financially focused strategies now evident amongst institutions competing for space in the global higher education system. In their search for increasing financial self‐sufficiency, universities and other higher education providers are examined for their primary competitive strategies. The study provides comprehensive evidence of their cost and operating efficiency strategies, facilitated by increasingly pervasive financial performance accountability systems. The primary operational strategies of teaching and research are found to have been transmogrified into strategies of customised education and research that is primarily focused upon and measured in terms of its funds generation. These trends contribute to complex performance management and accountability challenges as universities’ senior managers balance their internal financial ambitions with the expectations of external stakeholders, while simultaneously projecting sanitised imagery through corporate public relations strategies.
“…These too reflect their uptake of the business model with its focus on managing resource constraints and pursuing bottom line profitability. Government pressure to raise student intakes and mass produce employment ready graduates for a global knowledge worker marketplace reinforces the market revenue generating pressures for educational massification (Alexander, ; Dobson, ; Smeby, ; Altbach, ; Rytmeister, ; Rossi, ; and Arambewela, ). Operational efficiency has become a major strategic focus with a hidden agenda of cost minimisation for maximum outputs and profit margin optimisation.…”
Section: In Search Of Operational Efficiencymentioning
This paper examines the financially focused strategies now evident amongst institutions competing for space in the global higher education system. In their search for increasing financial self‐sufficiency, universities and other higher education providers are examined for their primary competitive strategies. The study provides comprehensive evidence of their cost and operating efficiency strategies, facilitated by increasingly pervasive financial performance accountability systems. The primary operational strategies of teaching and research are found to have been transmogrified into strategies of customised education and research that is primarily focused upon and measured in terms of its funds generation. These trends contribute to complex performance management and accountability challenges as universities’ senior managers balance their internal financial ambitions with the expectations of external stakeholders, while simultaneously projecting sanitised imagery through corporate public relations strategies.
“…In the globalised higher education space, student satisfaction and its diverse effects on peers and providers have been receiving considerable attention among key stakeholders such as higher education management, governments, scholars and current and prospective students and their families (Arambewela, 2010). With rising student expectations of quality services and value for money in the current student‐centric and highly competitive higher education space, providers have been focusing greater attention on how to provide the best possible learning experiences and support services to their students.…”
Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Given this changing backdrop, in our study, we endeavour to investigate whether student satisfaction ratings have any impact on university performance. We argue that to survive in the competitive higher education environment, providers need to focus on student satisfaction, which has become paramount to the viability of providers (Arambewela, 2010) and to the maintenance of their hard‐earned reputation in the community. Based on this discussion, we propose the following hypothesis:H1: Student satisfaction is positively associated with university performance.…”
Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning
The objective of this study is to identify the underlying factors that contribute to student satisfaction ratings reported in the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) surveys and to examine whether these satisfaction ratings are associated with university performance. Student satisfaction is a subjective evaluation made by learners about their providers in terms of academic experiences, support services and facilities offered while completing their chosen courses (
“…As such, drawing from a larger study on Canadian secondary mathematics PSTs' experiences in their teacher education program, we explore the question: What are the experiences of these PSTs in their university-level mathematics content courses? We realize that students' experiences includes how they interact with academic, social, and cultural factors both within and beyond the classroom (Arambewela & Maringe, 2012;Shah & Richardson, 2016). However, to truly prioritize the students' experiences, our study attends to the components of this definition that PSTs felt most encompassed their experience in their mathematics content courses.…”
Secondary mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs) are required to take university-level mathematics content courses to develop their mathematical content knowledge. Although PSTs' experiences as students play a major role in the types of teachers they become, there is limited research investigating the experiences of PSTs engaging in these courses. Thus, our study used a series of semi-structured interviews to provide first-hand accounts of PSTs' experiences. Findings suggest that PSTs experienced a range of challenges, including difficulties connecting with and understanding course content, and being ignored and dismissed by mathematics instructors. To cope with these challenges, PSTs became reflective practitioners and considered how their experiences in these courses applied to their learning as future teachers. PSTs also developed a community with each other that grew out of needing support with mathematical content, but evolved into collegial friendships. While PSTs were able to find positive features within negative experiences, this study highlights the need to understand PSTs' experiences in these courses so that effective improvements can be made.
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